The University of Southern California (USC) and its Comprehensive Cancer Center have been members of the Southwest Oncology Group since 1987, having joined after assessment of institutional strengths and commitment to fully integrate clinical activities of the Los Angeles County (LAC)+ USC Hospital into research opportunities. In the ensuing 5 years, Dr. Franco Muggia has obtained broad institutional support for multidisciplinary involvement in Southwest Oncology Group programs, with increasing capabilities to involve minority populations in LAC + USC into such trials. Strengths include: 1) an experienced and dedicated Clinical Investigations Support Office providing optimal data entry and retrieval, quality control, as well as supervision of the fledgling community Cooperative Group Outreach Programs (CGOPs) in the LA area, 2) Cancer Center programs with depth in clinical trials and basic research and 3) specific contributions in breast cancer adjuvant trials, in gastrointestinal cancer multimodality research, hematologic and AIDS-related neoplasia, gynecologic cancer locoregional therapy and drug pharmacology, biological therapy of melanoma, systemic therapy in pulmonary cancer, and clinico-pathologic study of bone and soft tissue sarcomas. Future efforts will concentrate on consolidating additional multidisciplinary participation services for ensuring timely minority patient entry, and cross-fertilization of basic and clinical research.